Springboks assistant coach Gary Gold has thrown his hat into the ring for the top post in South African rugby

The current head coach Peter de Villiers previously looked set to step down from the job - with his contract up for renewal in December 2011 - but he looks set to re-apply for the post citing "unfinished business" with the national side.

Gold, the former head coach of the Western Province and London Irish, has been the Boks' forwards coach for the past four seasons and believes he will tick some of the boxes the South African Rugby Union will look for in their next head coach, if they turn their back on de Villiers.

"I would deem it an honour to be considered along with the other candidates who are being spoken of as possible Bok coaches," Gold told IOL. "I don't feel I am entitled to anything, but obviously when you have been involved as I have you learn a lot, and I believe that I have accumulated enough intellectual capital while assistant coach to qualify for the job should the powers-that-be deem me to be a suitable candidate.

"A lot will depend on the criteria for choosing the new coach. There would be some boxes I wouldn't tick, but there would be a lot that I would if they were looking for continuity and experience."

"With the talent we have I don't believe that Springbok rugby should ever be satisfied with a less than 85 percent success rate in terms of wins and losses, but we also need to recognise that a Bok coach is not given a lot of time to work with the team.

"It should be accepted that players selected to play for the Boks have the necessary skill-set, that they have been coached. Otherwise they wouldn't get to that level.

"The challenge is to manage the players and channel their strengths so that you are assured of optimum performance from them."